i mean, michael jackson kills himself, right? elvis pretty much killed himself. janice joplin, jim morrison, the list is endless, jimmy hendrix. they never seem to learn. >> it's hard to predict to say what goes on inside the minds of an artist but that's what makes them an artist. that sense of creativity. that thing that makes them particular is probably the very thing that pushes them to the extremes that sometimes can cause, you know, fatalities and things that, you know, that end up not being good. >> bill: what was the most dynamic talent that you saw? because you basically are a guy who is looking for the next big thing in rock. >> when i came to sony i signed mariah carey >> i had the chance to work with michael jackson who was as brilliant as they come. ♪ because this is thriller, thriller night. >> bill: you couldn't get through to him on the social level though? >> it wasn't my job to get through to him. my job was to get the best possible music that he could make and that i could sell for him. that was really what my role was. >> bill: was that a di